Democracy Lost: Can America Recover from 2025? The USA appears to be racing – not sleep-walking – into an un-American future. Since the 2024 election, the current Trump administration has treated the nation’s universities, sciences, medical research, foreign humanitarian aid, human rights, the Democratic Party, and even democracy, as among its enemies. Advances in education, … Continue reading Democracy Lost
democracy
Democratic Innovations: A New Research Project
I am happy to report that we have support for a wonderful new research project with the Portulans Institute focused on democratic innovations. It will be anchored by two complementary components. The first, which will be central to my work, is focused on finding and critically researching democratic innovations. While much discussion worldwide has focused … Continue reading Democratic Innovations: A New Research Project
Democracy versus Autocracy: Personal Reflections
The debate over whether democratic nations will decline while more autocratic nations will rise over time, and why, often lacks empirical evidence. The Ukraine-Russia War might provide some sobering evidence. The most obvious has been the inability of the US and several other allies of Ukraine to be capable of sustaining their levels of support. … Continue reading Democracy versus Autocracy: Personal Reflections
Bad Prince Putin
Niccolo Machiavelli was not only one of the ancestorial-fathers of political science, but also remains incredibly relevant and insightful on so many topics of politics and power. In his discourses, advising the prince, he talks about a ‘bad prince’ in his reflections on republics, or popular governments, versus those governed by princes, who are hereditary … Continue reading Bad Prince Putin
Sad News for Comedy
As an American in Britain, I have found one of the most endearing traits of Britons, and people living in Britain generally, is their ability to laugh at themselves. They don’t take themselves so seriously that they can't see “what fools" we "mortals" can be. So how sad to learn in today’s paper that “Mock … Continue reading Sad News for Comedy
The Democratic Value of the Filibuster
The Democratic Value of the Filibuster The filibuster was not invented to serve some lasting and critical role in democratic governance, but unintentionally, it does perform that function. The filibuster is a structure – one rule of the game in American politics - that plays a powerful role in supporting more stable democracy. And it is … Continue reading The Democratic Value of the Filibuster
The Fragile Beauty of Democracy: The Iowa Caucuses
I watched the Iowa caucuses on Monday, February 3, 2020, from the UK. Good coverage came from a remote caucus in Florida – one of Iowa’s 87 satellite caucuses – in addition to 1,678 precinct caucuses. In that particular satellite caucus, Iowa voters, sunbirds residing during the winter months in Florida, seemed to be in … Continue reading The Fragile Beauty of Democracy: The Iowa Caucuses
Has Brexit Broken Parliament? No. This is Democracy!
The frustration of so many people over the machinations of the UK Parliament during the debates and votes over Brexit is understandable. So it is not surprising to see article after article, and opinion pieces piled on one another about how parliament, if not democracy itself, is broken. The GuardianJournal on 16 March notes: ‘Brexit … Continue reading Has Brexit Broken Parliament? No. This is Democracy!
Polarization is Not the Problem: A Post-Civic Culture
Increasingly, the dilemmas facing politics in the United States if not worldwide are being portrayed as outcomes of polarization. It is an attractive topic for discussion, because there is undeniably a great deal of polarization, if defined as wildly different (polar opposite) viewpoints on one or more issues. Moreover, it seems to be tied to … Continue reading Polarization is Not the Problem: A Post-Civic Culture
Fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles: Underresearched and overhyped: as appeared in The Conversation
Fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles: Underresearched and overhyped Don’t panic: An international survey finds concerns about fake news are overblown. studiostoks/shutterstock.com William H. Dutton, Michigan State University In the early years of the internet, it was revolutionary to have a world of information just a click away from anyone, anywhere, anytime. Many hoped … Continue reading Fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles: Underresearched and overhyped: as appeared in The Conversation